December 3, 2014 - The U.S. Department of
Transportations Federal Aviation Administration
(FAA) is proposing a $97,500 civil penalty
against IBC Airways, Inc. of
Ft. Lauderdale,
Fla., for allegedly
operating as a scheduled air carrier without the
appropriate FAA certification.

IBC Airways is an on-demand carrier that is also
authorized to offer and operate up to four
weekly scheduled flights using aircraft with a
maximum of nine seats. The FAA alleges IBC
Airways operated three Saab 340B aircraft, which
have more than nine seats, on a total of 54
scheduled flights between July 1 and August 17,
2012.

The FAA alleges that IBCs on demand authority
did not allow the company to operate these
scheduled passenger carrying flights with the
Saab 340B aircraft. IBC Airways operated the
flights between Ft. Lauderdale-Hollywood
International Airport and Guantanamo Naval Air
Station in Cuba and NormanManleyAirport
in Kingston,
Jamaica, and between
MiamiInternational
Airport
and Guantanamo Naval Air Station. The FAA
discovered the alleged violations during an
inspection.

A year ago today, IBC Airways lost a Fairchild
Metroliner and two pilots when on December 2,
2013, Flight 405 "Chasqui 405" had departed
Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic for San Juan
International Airport, Puerto Rico.

At
about 8 PM the Fairchild SA227AC Metro II,
registration: N831BC crashed during a rapid
decent near La Alianza, Puerto Rico killing the
captain and the first officer.

The NTSB is continuing to investigate this
crash, to date the circumstances of the crash
remain unknown. Family members of the copilot,
Steve Gullberg had concerns with company
maintenance on the aircraft. Gullberg's brother
said, "He was expressing concerns with my dad
about maintenance issues. When they would
mention these maintenance issues to management,
they were just shrugged off."

Greg continues: "This was an accident waiting to
happen, and it was going to happen sooner or
later. Unfortunately, it happened sooner, sooner
than we would have hoped."

"The
planes are very old, and some of the upkeep of
the air planes was a concern to me," one former
IBC Air employee tells New Times, requesting
anonymity. Although the company was involved in
no other crashes, the pilot says the issues were
well known among the company's flight crews.